It’s fair to say Wolverhampton Wanderers have struggled during the infancy of this Premier League season so far, with Gary O’Neil already having his work cut out for him in the Molineux hot seat.
O’Neil will hope he’s given time to turn things around, with the Old Gold currently occupying a space in the bottom three in the top-flight, considering the ex-AFC Bournemouth boss did steer Wolves to a safe and secure finish above the drop-zone last season in 14th spot.
He will be well aware that performances will need to improve, however, if he is to stay fixed to his current job post, with the attackers at his disposal failing to strike fear into Premier League defenders currently.
Only Matheus Cunha has really looked dangerous in attack, with two strikes next to his name from six league games to date, whilst other members of the Wolves frontline have unfortunately faded into the background.
Namely, both Sasa Kalajdzic and Goncalo Guedes are failing to justify their extortionate price tags in O’Neil’s camp up top, with Kalajdzic still in the treatment room whilst his Portuguese teammate continues to struggle on the periphery in the West Midlands.
Kalajdzic's struggles at Wolves
You would forgive even the most ardent Wolves fan if they had forgotten about the existence of Kalajdzic, who has been plagued with dreadful luck when it comes to injuries ever since entering the building in the summer of 2022.
He was a bumper buy under the Bruno Lage regime too, costing the club an excessive £15m fee at the time, only for him to now be known as an injury-ravaged asset.
The Austrian centre-forward did warrant the bumper amount two years ago on his arrival arguably, having bagged a promising 24 goals from 60 games playing for former employers Stuttgart, before making the cursed move to England a reality.
The 27-year-old, since his switch to Molineux, has only been fit to play 14 games in total for the West Midlands side, with only three strikes coming his way when he hasn’t been rushed back into the treatment room.
His miserable injury record was only further compounded out on loan with Eintracht Frankfurt last campaign, with the injury-prone attacker picking up his third ACL tear injury in five years, after initially impressing with three goal contributions picked up from six games out in Germany.
It’s led to Kalajdzic not even being registered as a part of O’Neil’s squad for this top-flight season, with the towering 6 foot 7 colossus sidelined for some time once more.
Away from the Austrian’s continued woes off the pitch, Guedes hasn’t found it any easier himself to fit in at Wolves, having also been a bumper buy in the same window Kalajdzic joined the ranks.
Guedes' struggles at Wolves
Guedes is arguably more of the flop out of the two, with his ex-Stuttgart counterpart at least able to fall back on his wretched luck with injuries, away from simply putting in poor performances when playing.
On the contrary, the lacklustre Old Gold number 29 has never sparked into life on the pitch since moving to England, having cost Wolves a whopping £27.5m to get in through the door.
Helping himself to 66 goal contributions donning a Valencia strip before his switch to the Premier League, Guedes just hasn’t ever been able to leave his mark on proceedings regularly enough in the tough demands of the English top-flight, with this above goal his only strike in the league to date.
He has shown off his prowess somewhat in the EFL Cup this campaign, with three goals from two in that competition, but he continues to be pushed into the background by O’Neil in the bread and butter of the Premier League.
Club played for
Games played
Goals scored
Benfica
29
2
Villarreal
19
3
The misfiring Wolves flop has even been chucked out on loan to try and get him up and running again, but those moves saw Guedes recede into his shell instead of shaking off his goal-shy image, with only five goals managed from a combined 48 appearances for both Benfica and Villarreal.
Any Wolves supporter would hold their hands up now and realise that both of these buys recklessly dented the bank account, as both figures in question go down as major duds two years on from first entering the building.
To further pile on the misery for O’Neil’s men, Wolves could have signed this “elite” star to improve their attacking options – as he has been described by football talent scout Jacek Kulig in the past – around the same time period, who is now taking the Premier League by storm.
The player who Wolves tried to sign
According to a report from 90min back in 2022, Wolves were once in the running to sign exciting winger Noni Madueke, way before he exploded onto the scene with Chelsea.
This would have been a far less costly decision to make than snapping up either Kalajdzic or Guedes would prove to be, with the current Blues star only worth in the region of £14.9m at the time, as per Transfermarkt.
Wolves’ error would end up being Chelsea’s major success story, however, as the former PSV Eindhoven winger has been at his blistering best so far this season under the new managerial methods of fresh Blues boss Enzo Maresca.
There would have been a worry in the air last season that Madueke would ultimately end up being another unnecessary splurge on Chelsea’s end, with the now one-time England international only managing to score an uninspiring six goals in the Premier League across his first two flat seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Now, however, there are no such concerns, as Madueke – who cost just a little more than Guedes to obtain in 2023 at around the £29m mark – has a blistering four goals from seven appearances so far this campaign.
Stat
Madueke
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
3
Assists
0
Shots
6
Touches
38
Accurate passes
15/18 (83%)
Key passes
1
Big chances created
1
Funnily enough, the standout display of the stellar 22-year-old’s season to date came against the side who were once noted as being keen on his services, with Madueke firing home a hat-trick to play a major role in Chelsea humiliating Wolves 6-2 on their own patch at the tail end of August.
Whilst Chelsea look to be on the up under Maresca with Madueke coming into his own among other top performers in West London, O’Neil will be stressed in the West Midlands that a long and hard battle against relegation is now on the horizon, with a lack of a tricky winger like the Blues attacker at his disposal after Pedro Neto’s disappointing exit this summer.
In an alternate reality, Wolves might well have been able to land the ex-PSV man before Chelsea swooped in, but all focus now rests on O’Neil attempting to get a tune of what he was in the here and now in a bid to push the Old Gold up the league sooner rather than later.
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